Start Spreading the News
by Arc Trader
Summary: ME3 done Crysis 2 style. As Palaven burns, Shepard and the Illusive Man discover a way to defeat the Reapers. Major, major spoilers for Crysis 2 and the Mass Effect: Evolution comic. Speculation warning, this will probably be wildly invalidated by ME3.


_Palaven, capital city – 3 weeks after Reaper invasion of Milky Way_

**Wake up Marine**.

There it was again. That damnably familiar yet mysterious voice.

**This is no time for you to die. Get up and fight the Reapers.**

"Wake up Shepard!"

Shepard's eyes flashed open as the turian medic withdrew the hypospray from his neck. Holding the spot he'd been injected, Shepard staggered to his feet as Garrus moved to help him up.

The evacuation site was a complete mess. Hundreds of turian soldiers stood, ushering in civilians and other personnel into evac ships as the perimeter guards continued firing into the distance. Beyond the makeshift sandbags and hastily-erected fencing surrounding the compound, thousands of husks continued to charge their position and were cut down by the nearly half-dozen heavy rotary cannons protecting the site.

"About damn time," said the voice of the turian standing a few feet away, overseeing dozens of shuttles and gunships taking off. General Septimus Oraka turned and regarded the trio. "The capital is lost. These are the last ships leaving. Get on board and get the hell out of here."

Garrus marched forward and grabbed the retired general by the collar. "Not a chance, General. My mother is still in the hospital on the other side of the city. I need one hour – just one hour – to take a shuttle and get her out of there."

"We don't have an hour, Vakarian!" said Septimus as he pulled out of Garrus's grasp. "The sensory officers on my flagship in orbit are telling me that the Reapers all over the planet are setting themselves up in some kind of pattern and are building up energy. Palaven is lost, Vakarian! There are more husks than there are bullets to kill them on every continent! We've gotten as many people off-planet as we can! Who knows what the Reapers are planning on doing within the next minute? Their network is nearly complete. This city is the last point they need to complete on their grid before they-"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off as a massive rumble knocked nearly everyone off their feet. The ground cracked and split as a massive spike rose into the air.

Shepard and Garrus exchanged a look as their collective jaws dropped. It looked identical to a Dragon's Teeth, except on a far larger scale.

"_General Oraka, please respond. This is fleet. We are getting reports of some kind of spike erupting from the ground all over the planet. It looks like they originate from each Reaper."_

"That's it," growled the general. "This is General Oraka to all Hierarchy forces still on-planet. Load up your last survivors and evacuate immediately! NOW!" He looked around. "That goes for us too! Shepard, Vakarian, on board now!"

"Dammit General!" roared Garrus.

"_I would strongly advise against that, General,"_ said a new voice over the com.

Shepard's jaw dropped open again.

"Who is this?" demanded Septimus.

"_Jack Harper. Now General, there is no time-" _

"This is a Hierarchy military channel! How did a human get on?"

"_-for proper introductions,_" continued the Illusive Man. _"All you need to be aware of is that unless Shepard follows my instructions to the letter, every single organic being on Palaven and in a near-orbital radius will either be dead or turned into a husk within the next five minutes."_

That shut up everyone on the com channel. Shepard took a moment to slip on his Death Mask, which had worked quite well in gaining Hierarchy soldiers' respect, and keyed into the Illusive Man's hijacked channel. "What the hell are you on about, you traitor?"

"_The same thing I've always been for: stopping the Reapers. We can chat on the way, but right now you need to jump in that hole and follow the Dragon's Teeth to its source."_

Garrus looked uncertain. "Shepard, I don't think-"

"We don't have a choice. We're all going to be dead real soon. All we can do is hope something can stop this from happening." With that said, the former N7 marine leapt down the abyss.

The fall was relatively short, and opened into a tunnel that led deeper than expected. As Shepard started walking, he toggled his com again. "You were saying?"

"_Yes. What you're witnessing is how the Reapers are able to eliminate entire planets in record time. With their network of Dragon's Teeth set up, they can broadcast a planetary indoctrination signal that will affect everything on the planet and even reach up into low orbit. The vast majority of those affected will die. The unlucky ones will survive and come out as husks."_

Harper continued talking as Shepard increased his speed to a jog. _"Now Shepard, you alone are the key to stopping this from happening. I suppose now's a good time to come clean about a few things. I'm sure you've been hearing whispers, strange voices in your head for about three weeks now, yes? The truth is, they're coming from your implants. The Lazarus Project designed implants that were based off of pieces of Sovereign we'd recovered. They're not actual parts of Sovereign, merely based off of him, but apparently they're able to intercept several Reaper wavelengths."_

Shepard grunted as he hopped a piece of debris and continued down the dark tunnel. "Could have told me this before."

"_Shepard, have you ever stopped to wonder why you've never been indoctrinated? Hell, I know you spent two days unconscious in close proximity to a Reaper artifact and came out none the worse for wear when an entire science team fell victim to it. The truth is, Shepard, your implants have been designed to fight off indoctrination."_

He could hear the Illusive Man blow out a cigarette before continuing. _"The first instance was on the derelict Reaper. Your implants were collecting all kinds of data about the signal the Reapers emit. I took a look at the findings shortly before you left for the Omega-4 relay, but there wasn't enough to make a real difference. But Object Rho: that was a true treasure trove of intelligence. Your implants soaked up data like a very dry sponge on indoctrination. I've been keeping tabs on you through your implants. What I've discovered is that now there is a way to reverse the signal."_

"Just what the hell is your angle? Cerberus started working for Reapers and now you're finding a way to stop them?"

"_Isn't it obvious, Shepard? I'm working with the Reapers because that is the key to defeating them! Thanks to this, I've been able to expose numerous teams to their signals and received much more data than I could have ever gotten otherwise. I now have enough intelligence about indoctrination to turn it against them. Of course, you played a crucial role as well: your exposure to Object Rho gave me much more to work with and thankfully greatly reduced the number of sacrifices I had to make."_

"I bet you feel like a real hero, huh? How the hell do you know so much about indoctrination anyway?"

"_Because I've been indoctrinated for thirty years."_

Shepard came to a near-stop at that. "What?"

"_You're going deep underground to an ancient Reaper artifact known as the Arca Monolith. If my theory is correct, this Monolith will amplify the signal the Reapers emit and will greatly reduce the number of turian casualties. It will modify the vast majority of turians into husks rather than killing them. Your implants are the key to stopping this."_

Indeed, as Shepard continued running forward, he came to a massive chamber that appeared to have been excavated recently. Dozens of Dragon's Teeth connected to the giant obelisk in the center: a device that looked uncannily similar to Object Rho. One long tube extended up the center, punching right through the ceiling.

"_And there it is, just as I remember it. The Arca Monolith. Truth be told, Shepard, your implants are an upgraded version of what I have. Mine merely resist indoctrination. Yours actively works to __**subvert**__ it."_

As Shepard watched, the Monolith began to pulse with blue energy just like Object Rho had done. The Dragon's Teeth connected to it began to vibrate and shake.

"Shepard!" shouted Septimus's voice. "I don't know if you're reading me, but something's happening up here! The spike is vibrating and looks ready to emit a pulse of energy from its tip! My sensor officer is telling me the same thing is happening on every spike on the planet! Whatever you're going to do, do it NOW!"

"_This is it, Shepard. The reverse signal is already in your implants. You need to make physical contact with the Monolith and transfer the signal into it."_

"Not much choice, huh?" hissed Shepard as he started to run toward it.

A massive blue wave of energy rushed and brought him to his knees. It was almost identical to what Object Rho had done to him in the Bahak System. He ducked low and tried to force himself closer and closer to the Monolith.

The waves of energy were coming in more frequently now. It was like swimming against a rushing ocean. He brought up his pistol and fired at the Monolith, stitching a line of shots across a panel. Finally getting close enough, he stood and wrenched off a panel. Blue energy coursed through the Monolith's interior as it prepared to unleash.

Just as Shepard was about to place his palms within, the voice returned.

**This is it Marine. Finish what I started.**

He touched the blue current.

* * *

><p>Shepard woke up.<p>

He was in a world of darkness. Well, that wasn't quite correct: it wasn't black, but was rather bluish-purple. As he looked around, he appeared to be in a void.

"Hello, dead man. Interesting journey, wasn't it?"

That voice. The all-too familiar yet maddeningly unknown voice…

"Thought I'd gone?"

He turned around.

"Well, I thought so too."

For the third time that day, Shepard's jaw dropped open.

"But the implants... Harper was right. The implants change all the rules."

Saren Arterius.

"He got inside me. Sovereign, he got inside. But then you were there, in front of me. Thanks to you, I was able to break the link between myself and the implants."

Shepard remembered that day on the Presidium. He would never forget it. _Thank you_ just before the turian Spectre blew his brains out with his pistol. Saren continued speaking, oblivious to the shocked human.

"I had to take the chance, to give you the chance to finish what I'd started. Because you are our only hope."

Something appeared in the background… a map. An enormous map. Saren flung his arms open and looked around.

"Look at that. Not just our galaxy. Not just the Milky Way. The Reapers harvest everywhere. Everywhere. _Everywhere_." Dozens of galaxies lit up on the map. Harbinger's words returned to Shepard's memory.

"_**Your galaxy is within sight. You cannot stop us."**_

A text message popped up in Shepard's line of sight: _Assimilation complete_.

* * *

><p>"We are out of ammo, General!" announced the turian gunner on the rotary cannon.<p>

Septimus looked up at the spike again. He could hear the thousands of husks about to tear into them.

And then the spike unleashed its wave.

* * *

><p>"See, we won here, today," said Saren. "But this battle is far from over. You saved my people, but the war has only just begun."<p>

The world went white. Shepard struggled to open his eyes as Saren's voice continued to echo in his mind.

"You and I, Marine, we don't get to die just yet. We must return: back to where we're needed."

Shepard's eyes snapped open.

He was back on the surface of Palaven; apparently he'd ridden up the tube from the Arca Monolith. All around him were thousands upon thousands of dead husks. They had not been killed by conventional weapons or the turian military: it was as if they had all suddenly just dropped dead.

A crash made Shepard jump. He turned and stared in astonishment as he saw a Reaper collapse to the ground.

Dead as a doornail.

"_I've got him!"_ said the voice of Sepimus's com officer. _"Shepard is approximately three klicks away from your position, sir! Sir, we have retaken Palaven! I'm getting reports from all our ground forces that all enemy resistance has ceased! Every Reaper is nonfunctional, repeat, nonfunctional!"_

Shepard quickly reached up to his com to adjust the frequency before yet another new voice broke in, heavily distorted by static.

"Am I speaking with the Council Spectre who has just been recovered at Main Plaza? The one with Jack Harper's nano-implants?" Before Shepard could answer, the voice kept speaking. "Wait, I'm adjusting the feed… ahhh, better," he said as the static dissipated, making it quite obvious that the speaker was a turian.

"Allow me to introduce myself. Desolas Arterius, at your service. And you are…?"

"They call me… Shepard."


End file.
